Anyone considering Career Change?
 

Hey colleagues,

Who of you is considering to change careers and quit flying?
I can think of various reasons not only the current situation...

Cheers

I will not quit... I will wait for better times. Until then, spend time with family and enjoy free time.

I won't quit either, but food needs to be placed on the table. Therefore, I have used this time to acquire other qualifications to enter a different industry.

I still have my job so I'm not concerned (so far...).

But the problem with a career change is that we won't make the same money on the ground, starting at the bottom of the scale in another industry.

There's a massive difference between "quit the industry", as in "leave it forever", and "work another job to support yourself until an opportunity to fly comes up once again". I strongly suspect that most pilots who lost their jobs this year belong in the second category. They fly commercially because there's nothing else they'd rather do for a living, not because it would be impossible to achieve the same or greater income by putting enough effort into something else.

Most of those in the first category were about to leave for good sooner or later either way simply because they didn't enjoy flying. COVID was their final trigger to act on it. And there's nothing wrong with that - there's no reason to keep forcing yourself into working a job you don't like. It's equally miserable for you and those around you as nobody likes being locked up in a flight deck the size of a phone booth with someone who's frustrated about having to be there. You've only got one life and you'd better try and spend your time this side of the grass on something you actually enjoy.

I fall into the second group - left a v. strong loco job I loved for a legacy carrier to try long haul. Now out in the cold feeling rather stupid, but still want to fly. Foresee at least two years out of the seat, current plan is to build project management experience/ qualifications over the next few years, if I can find anyone who will employ me! (“You’ll leave and go back to flying this summer” has been the common stumbling block so far)

I left flying after 15 years in the industry and finally have job security as well as a proper wage.
Aviation isn't going to get better any time soon so don't waste the years of your life hoping it will get better.

I am looking at a career change to a completely different field starting on a training salary of less than a quarter of what I was on before.
Even after 2 years it only improves to slightly more than half of the former salary, however progression should be steady and a good work ethic will probably see a reasonable level of income. It will have its share of hardships, however, considerations stemming from airline employment are:

Health - noise, cabin air, long periods spent immobile, pressurisation cycles, inhaling farts.
Night flying and the health effects
Fatigue from unstable rostering practices, time zone shifts, cumulative - health and wellbeing aspects of..
Management practices - dive to the bottom.
Unstable industry
Tedious nature of the work for hours and hours.
Hassle factor of working in and around airports. Security, immigration, circus.
Long periods away from home and family.
When does it next go bang? Once bitten, twice shy...
There are more, but the above are the main ones.

I suspect there may be many more like me - who, from the outside would appear to be having a good career.
Also that many people are susceptible to the 'sunk cost' fallacy. Too invested.
Worth looking up 'sunk cost fallacy - behavioural economics'.

This will be an interesting thread...

Precisely why I divide pilots in non-flying jobs into permanent career changers and everyone else. Employers on the ground realise that, unless you appear totally convinced to change careers once and forever, you'll be gone in 60 seconds the moment a flying job is thrown your way. One argument which could skew their perception against this are any qualifications you have recently acquired - because who would invest money and effort into any major qualification unless they see it as a good fit for their future? Also, quoting lifestyle could help, especially if as a pilot you had to commute to work and spend long periods away from home.

The alternatives to this? I see it as two other options - either becoming self-employed and not having to explain to anyone what you're planning or aiming for jobs with a high staff turnover where it's a given that you're only there for a short while.

I could see from the moment I entered this industry it was not possible to have a healthy lifestyle and do it full time unless you were on a 25th year legacy contract with a hard won scheduling agreement. I became part time or seasonal very quickly and continued in my other career too. For the majority of us now, especially those at locos, given the way the chief Satans at the top of Ezy, Ryanair and Wizz want us to work and for the overall package they're offering, it's just not sustainable for life, well-being and health. I urge you all to stick two fingers up and force some drastic labour changes for 2022/2023.

i have just completed my trucker license, plan is to go part time flying and do some driving. So that when the :mad: hits the fan again in a few years (which it definitely will) I can just easily switch to full time driving

I hope it works out that way. But unless your wife is planning to travel with you in the cab, I suspect that you may be spending quite a few nights sleeping in your lorry on the M20.

Bonway

This is what I’m doing. However, be careful what you expect with regards to being home most nights. I find it’s easy to slip into just going away for long periods. Life seems simpler.

Unless you have a DAF XF with it’s bunkbeds, and you take her with you, in which case you’ll be sleeping above or below each other.

Isn't the EU making it compulsory for truckers to sleep in hotels ?

can' t give links as too new

Sort of. You can only have what’s known as a “reduced weekly rest” in a truck (more than 24 hours rest, but less than 45 hours in between weekly shifts). However, this must be at an established truck stop or service station with facilities. Not an industrial estate, or layby. The maths can get deep, but usually a driver can have one reduced rest every 2-3 weeks.

A “full” weekly rest has to be more than 45 hours between weekly shifts. You cannot spend a full weekly rest in your truck, full stop. So you’re correct, your boss has to fork out for a hotel if you’re having a full rest.

This rule has mainly come into play as a way of combating Eastern & Southern European hauliers sending their trucks and drivers into Western Europe to work for months on end (particularly Romanian and Bulgarian, who provide the cheapest haulage in Europe). In doing so they are undercutting native hauliers, and subjecting their drivers to quite grim living conditions (sleeping in a truck for months on end in industrial estates and laybys, with no access to toilets and showers. As well as being paid exceptionally low rates, but needing to survive in very expensive countries. “Social Dumping” I believe it’s called).

This rule hits these hauliers in the pocket, and makes it much more complicated and expensive for them to do the above practice.

I'm on a similar track currently, after nearly a year of short-time work, subsequent pay cuts and finally being put on furlough I now have job offers on the table as a train driver... I love my job, enjoyed it even without getting paid normally this year, but being put on indefinite furlough and essentially being encouraged to resign in the current climate requires a change in course. The pay won't be great, but it will be a stable job - training will take 18 months, and once the industry picks up again I hopefully won't have to go for the first dodgy job opportunity that presents itself. Still the tiny arrogant Captain in my head is nagging away, but being to proud to look for alternate jobs makes no sense to me either.

You will have to otherwise you will be out of the industry for good, as those jobs are the only ones that will allow you to regain some kind of recency.

​​​​​​Tell that to the Norwegian guys in Spain for instance, some of whom haven't had a chance to fly since the very beginning of the year... Any better advice to give? After a while we need to swallow our pride and get on with life - it's a hard fall after ten years of relatively smooth sailing for the industry.

No, still the same. Unless you are planning to leave the industry for good then you might need to accept any kind of flying jobs in the future in order to fly again.